Devil's Advocate
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Both of you make some good points for why Union Pacific has no business-minded reason to work with Amtrak on additional traffic requests. Which I don't even disagree with. I just don't see what purpose there is to blame Amtrak for not meeting UP's sky-high demands with fees Amtrak has no hope of recovering. Unless you're saying that Amtrak is at fault for not pushing hard enough to "force" Union Pacific to lower their fees. Never mind the simple fact that Amtrak is already hanging by a thread politically, and that Union Pacific has far more support in our government than Amtrak has or ever will have. Regardless of whatever punitive powers are bestowed upon Amtrak they would be wise to leave those powers alone while their continued funding is under constant threat of severe budget reductions. Today's Union Pacific is no small fry. They're big enough and powerful enough to help bring an end to Amtrak if they ever find themselves backed into a corner. There is no way today's Amtrak wins over today's Union Pacific in all but the most trivial of matters. Anything more than a slap on the wrist and there will be hell to pay at budget time.